Improvement in machines for uniting the uppers and soles of boots and shoes



2Sheets--Sheet1. G. McKAY 81 H. P. FAIRHELD. Machines for Uniting the uppers and Sales of Boots and Shoes.

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M ach i nes for Uniting the U p pe rs and So I as of Boots and Shoes.

No.i58,i07. atented 08,312.18.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()rrron.

GORDON MCKAY, OF CAMBRIDGE, AND HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS; SAID FAIRFIELD ASSIGNOR TO SAID MGKAY.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR UNITING THE UPPERS AND SOLES OF BOOTS AND SHOES- Specifioation forming part of Letters Patent No. 158,107, dated December 22, 1874; application filed December 2, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GORDON MCKAY, of Cambridge,Midd1esex county, and HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD, of Boston, Suffolk county, all in the State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Machines for Uniting the Uppers and Soles of Boots and Shoes; and we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of our invention, suiiicient to en able those skilled in the art to practice it.

The invention relates particularly to that class of machines for nailing the soles to the uppers of boots and shoes, each of which embraces in its organization a shoe-support and a shoe-feeding mechanism, and I prefer for these purposes the curved salient arm or horn for supporting the shoe, and feeding-mechanism like that in the Blake and Libby United States patent No. 122,985 or 140,400. The horn and feed in this machine are not represented in the drawings, as they are similar to those described in the patents above named, and are in common use in the sewingmachine known as the McKay sewing-machine. In this machine, however, the horn is arranged to be lifted and lowered for placing the shoe upon it instead of lifting and lowering the nailing or sewing apparatus, as is done in the sewing and nailing machines above referred to. As this arrangement of the horn has been fully perfected and. put successfully in operation by the said McKay and Fairfield in another machine, which will be subsequently made the subject of a patent, a description of it here is unnecessary.

1n nailing-machines it has heretofore been an endeavor to make the length of the nail variable, either automatically or by the manipulation of the operator, to accommodate it to the thickness of the strip.

In this machine we use a nail having a long taper point, and we cut this nail from a thin strip of metal, and by setting the cuttingknife at an angle varying slightly from a right angle with the edge of the strip, and semirotating the strip at each out, we get nails that are tapered on two opposite sides and parallel on the other two, and by driving these nails onto a horn or iron-bottomed last, we are able to so clinch these points that they will bury or coil up in the inner sole any redundant length they may have; thus we can use nails out from a strip wide enough for the thickest part of the shoe, and in the thinnest part not too wide to be objectionable, owing to the coiling up of the point of the nail, while the ability to use strips of different widths in the same machine gives economy by using a strip not wider than is necessary for the thickest part of the shoe.

The tube through which these nails are driven is not round, but made in sections the size of the largest end of the nails. This is important, as it keeps the nail from crippling in its weakest direction, while the taper of the sides supports it in the other direction, and it also tends to keep the nail-points from being driven in a slanting direction and coming out at the edges of the soles, because the tack fills the tube crosswise of the line of nailing, and is thusdirected correctly.

In this machine the nailing and feeding apparatus are arranged on a swinging head, which turns slightly on the cam-shaft by which the points are operated, and thus raises the nail-tube to accommodate the varying thickness of the sole, and also to free the shoe from pressure in feeding it. The head is lifted by a cam, and retained against the work by a spring. The strip from which the nails are cut is introduced into the machine. and presented to the action of the cutters by passing it through a cylindrical semi-rotating strip-box, which has in it a chamber or channel of about the same thickness as the strip, and wide enough to take in the widest strip that will be used. There are adjustingscrews so arranged as to alter the width of this channel, and center the strip to correspond with the center of rotation of the stripbox. There are also pawls attached to the strip-box, and acting with it, and arranged to pinch and hold the strip firmly in the stripboX, when it is required to feed the strip forward to the action of the cutters. These pawls are released when the strip-box is drawn back to give the feed to the strip. While the pawls are thus released, and the strip-box drawn back, the strip is pinched, but not cut off, by the cutters. The strip-box is also oscillated half a rotation at each action of the cutter and driver.

The action of the nail feeding and cutting apparatus necessary for cutting each nail may be thus described: Commencing at that point where the strip is introduced into the cutters the proper distance to form a nail, the cutters are closed partially, and far enough to pinch, but not sever the nail from the strip. The pawls in the stripboX are now released, and the strip-box and pawls are drawn back a distance correspond ing with the width of a nail. Then the pawls gripe the strip again, and remain stationary while the cutters cut off a nail. Then the strip-box, still holding the strip firmly in the pawls, draws back far enough to permit the strip to be rotated halt a revolution, and clear of the sides of the nail-tube in which the cutters are placed. The strip and stripbox are then rotated half a turn and fed forward, pushing the end of the strip again into the cutters to have another nail cut from it. This operation is repeated at each nail.

The cutting apparatus consists ofa cutter or punch, having its cutting-edge placed at an angle to correspond with the taper of one side of the nail, and acting in a taper die. The end of the strip being inserted by the strip-feed apparatus into this die, a nail is cut off by the punch or cutter, and, as its head or largest portion is up, it is passed forward by the punch and under the driver, and here the punch remains stationary while the driver descends and drives the nail, the punch thus forming one side of the tube or passage through which the nail is driven. It is obvions that the nail being cut off from the strip by a punch having one side inclined from the vertical to give taper to the nail, cannot be driven without passing it through a passage as large as the head of the nail, and this we accomplish by carrying the nail by the punch to the enlarged passage or nail-tube. lVe also accomplish the same result by placing the cutting-edge of the punch or cutters vertical or parallel with the path of the driver, and slanting the axis of the strip-boX.

The drawings represent- Figure 1, a sectional plane of the machine; Fig. 2, a side elevation, with the upper part of the outside post of the machine and cam k removed; Fig. 3, a view of one-half of the strip-box, the other half being removed; Fig. 4, a section of the strip-box through the screws 12 Fig. 5, a top view of the nail cutting and driving apparatus; Fig. 6, an end view of the punch or cutter; Fig. 7, a top view of cutter and driving apparatus arranged for an inclined strip-box and vertical cutters; Fig. 8, elevation of the same.

The same letters designate the same part in all the figures.

a a are two posts supporting the cam-shaft of the machine, and connected together by a girt, a, at the top. This girt also supports the fulcrum b of the lever b for raising the head of the machine. a is the bed-plate of the machine, which supports the posts a, and is placed on a suitable frame to raise it the convenient height from the floor, and to support the horn or last-jack on which the shoe is placed to-be nailed, and to the plate a is attached the feeding mechanism. 0 is the cam-shaft. dd are arms trunnioned on the camshaft, and supporting the strip-box and nail cutting and driving apparatus. 0 is the stripboX, seen partly in section in Fig. 1, showing at the end next the cutters, the pawls or gripes c for griping the strip, the levers e for work ing the pawls operated by the collar 6 havin g the inclined cams f, which act 011 the rollers on the end of the levers c to spread them apart, and these force the other ends of the levers together, carrying with them the gripes c. The collar 0 is worked by thelever g and cam g, which, at the proper time, gives endwise movement to the camsf. The strip-box is moved to and from the cutting apparatus by the collar it operated by the lever h and cam h, which moves the strip-box endwise to feed the strip into the cutters, and withdraw it (after a nail has been cut off) far enough to permit the strip-box to be turned in the bearings half a revolution, and clear the end of the strip from the tunnel-shaped opening in the nail-cutting apparatus. The cams h and g are so made as to give to the collars h and e the same movement, except at thoe parts of the revolution of the cams where the gripes e are to be opened or closed. The strip-box is rotated half a revolution, and returned at every alternate revolution of the cam-shaft by the jack j working on the gear j secured to the strip-box and moved by the cam j in the geared wheel 3'', and worked by a gear 7 on the cam-shaft which revolves the cam j once for every two turns of the cam-shaft, thus presenting the strip to the cutters, first one edge up and then the other. The strips we use are preferably made in long pieces, and we place them on a reel having a horizontal axis, and placed sufficient distance from the strip-box to allow the strip to be twisted halt a turn at each movement of the strip-box without makin g a permanent set in the strip. The nail is cut off by the cutters or punch 70, which acts against the steel-die 7c and is actuated by the cam k on the cam-shaft, and carries the nail, after cutting it off, under the driver at l. The driver Z, actuated by the lever Z and cam l, drives the nail through the tube and into the shoe at 1. The cutter 7c is seen in end view in Fig. 6, showing the inclined cutting-edge which gives taper to the nail, and in Fig. 5, showing how the nail iscarried through lateral passages 70 to the enlarged driver-chamber l, made of uniform dimensions, thus permittin g the head of the nail to pass through while the nail is supported in its weakest direction, by the side and walls of the tube. Figs. 7 and 8 show the arrangement of the which, when a horn is used, raises and lowers the head of the'machine forfeeding the shoe, is worked by the cam 12, and attaches through the eyed link 12 to the brace d of the swinging head d, as seen in 'dotted lines in Fig. 2. In lifting, the link b goes up with the lever through the effect of the nuts on the link, but in depressing the coiled spring around the link yields, and this keeps the end of the nailtube firmly on the shoe, accommodating it to the varying thickness thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 show the construction of the nail-strip box, which is made in two pieces, and divided on the line at n, and the halves are held together by the ring 01. at one end, and the gear at the other. The adjusting-screws n acting on the pieces a serve to adjust the strip to the center of rotation in the strip-box. The levers for griping the strip Work in the recesses a and the gripes are seen at n.

Having thus described the nature of our invention, we claim- 1. The strip-box, with its strip-gripes and strip-adjusting pieces w constructed substantially as described.

2. The combination of the strip-box with a reel for a coil of strips, so arranged that the strip-box and end of the strip contained in it can be oscillated, as set forth, without giving a similar oscillation to the reel and other end of the strip.

3. The nail-tube so made that the nail shall be supported by it in its weakest direction, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of the cutters and nailfeeding apparatus, whereby the strip is held by the cutters, while the nail-gripes are drawn back to take a new hold of the strip.

'5. The combination of the inclined cutter k, the inclined cutter-die 7c, and the driver-passage Z, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the strip-box, the carrying punch or cutter, the lateral passage, and the driver.

7. The combination of the lifting-cam b, lever b, link If, and spring, or their equivalents, for giving the head of the machine a uniform lift, and bringingit down to the variable height of the surface of the work.

8. The combination of the fulcrum of the driverbar with the swinging frame of the head, so as to bring the end of the driver always just to the end of the driver-tube in driving the nail.

' GORDON MOKAY.

HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD.

Witnesses:

JAMES J. S'roRRow, E. K. BELGHER. 

